Analysis of Research Hotspots and Development Trends in the Diagnosis of Lung Diseases Using Low-Dose CT Based on Bibliometrics.

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is one of the main threats to global health, among lung diseases. Low-Dose Computed Tomography (LDCT) provides significant benefits for its screening but also brings new diagnostic challenges that require close attention.

Methods: By searching the Web of Science core collection, we selected articles and reviews published in English between 2005 and June 2024 on topics such as "Low-dose", "CT image", and "Lung". These literatures were analyzed by bibliometric method, and CiteSpace software was used to explore the cooperation between countries, the cooperative relationship between authors, highly cited literature, and the distribution of keywords to reveal the research hotspots and trends in this field.

Results: The number of LDCT research articles show a trend of continuous growth between 2019 and 2022. The United States is at the forefront of research in this field, with a centrality of 0.31; China has also rapidly conducted research with a centrality of 0.26. The authors' co-occurrence map shows that research teams in this field are highly cooperative, and their research questions are closely related. The analysis of highly cited literature and keywords confirmed the significant advantages of LDCT in lung cancer screening, which can help reduce the mortality of lung cancer patients and improve the prognosis. "Lung cancer" and "CT" have always been high-frequency keywords, while "image quality" and "low dose CT" have become new hot keywords, indicating that LDCT using deep learning techniques has become a hot topic in early lung cancer research.

Discussion: The study revealed that advancements in CT technology have driven in-depth research from application challenges to image processing, with the research trajectory evolving from technical improvements to health risk assessments and subsequently to AI-assisted diagnosis. Currently, the research focus has shifted toward integrating deep learning with LDCT technology to address complex diagnostic challenges. The study also presents global research trends and geographical distributions of LDCT technology, along with the influence of key research institutions and authors. The comprehensive analysis aims to promote the development and application of LDCT technology in pulmonary disease diagnosis and enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient management efficiency.

Conclusion: The future will focus on LDCT reconstruction algorithms to balance image noise and radiation dose. AI-assisted multimodal imaging supports remote diagnosis and personalized health management by providing dynamic analysis, risk assessment, and follow-up recommendations to support early diagnosis.